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Modern Hebrew: Where can I find a chart of all the verb conjugation rules in a single place?

Language Learning Asked on August 25, 2021

I have had three textbooks so far (Al Yesod, Brandeis, and one in an ulpan) and they all spread the verb rules across multiple chapters.

Hebrew is amazing in how systematized it is. (Of course there are exceptions, that isn’t what this is about….) But I am struggling to find the finite (1-3 page) set of tables that says: Plug your shoresh into this table and turn the crank.

Where to find?

Thanks!

2 Answers

I've found Lewis Glinert's Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar (no relationship) to be a great resource. The verb charts are not all in one page, but the are concise and easy to look up.

This is not an introductory Hebrew book - the author even mentions this in his introduction:

Modern Hebrew is not a graded, step-by-step coursebook. Of those there are many. It supplies what they generally lack: a simple, up-to-date outline of Hebrew structure.

To use this book, you need a basic understanding of the structure of Hebrew and its writing system. The book presumes you are proficient in the alphabet and vowel marks, providing no help in reading. If you can't quite read yet, leave this book on the shelf and learn to read or recite a Hebrew text with full vowelling.

The first section of the book covers regular structures, including all the regular binyanim with charts showing how to plug in your shoresh to get any tense.

The second section illustrates the most common patterns of irregularity, such as how roots with "gutturals" (e.g. terminal ה, etc.) affect the pattern. I've found that most Hebrew coursebooks are particularly weak in that regard - they treat these forms as purely irregular and something to memorize verb-by-verb. This book explains how that is not necessary.

Answered by Robert Columbia on August 25, 2021

The closest free online resource that I know of is this at pealim.com. You can set the shoresh and the binyan. Pretty good.

A good book, if you can get it, is Hebrew Verbs and Conjugations by Shraga Assif. It shows pretty much every construction possible for lots of roots. I bought my copy in Israel several years back.

Teach Me Hebrew Lessons 14-22 have a nice, free overview of roots and binyan. And somewhat related to this is another resource, Chapters 12-20 of this book (Hebrew Grammar By Example: Dual Language Hebrew-English, Interlinear & Parallel Text, L2 Press publisher) give a good overview of the roots and binyan.

Answered by AML on August 25, 2021

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